Covid-19 Lockdown and the Increase in Domestic Violence.
Glyn Hudson-Allez
The United Nations described domestic violence against women and girls as a shadow pandemic, as some countries are reporting increases of up to 33% of domestic violence during the lockdown. Aware of this issue, the UK Government released extra funding and support as well as guidelines for recognising the signs of abuse in a relationship. They highlight not only physical violence, but also emotional abuse including gaslighting (Dorpat, 1996; Korobov 2020), threats and intimidation, and sexual exploitation and violence. Of course, domestic violence is not only perpetrated by men against women. Nicola Graham-Kevan emphasised that although the incidence of men being victimised in intimate relationships may be less, they can still be the victims of a battering partner in the same way as women (Graham-Kevan, 2007), and she argued that they are not best served by only taking a feminist perspective of domestic violence. However, male partners consistently under-report violent attacks by women and are less likely to consider it a crime. Indeed, it may be that women may not engage in as many overtly violent attacks as men to both male and female partners, but they are capable of manipulative, controlling and emotionally abusive behaviours as well as physical assaults (Dutton & Nicholls, 2005). In addition, a woman’s potential for violence would be increased if she had a narcissistic style or borderline personality disorder. It has also been shown that women who hit their partners are more likely to hit their children (Margolin & Gordis, 2003).
Covid-19 Lockdown, Internet Pornography, and the Risk of Sexual Offending
Dr Glyn Hudson-Allez
Many counsellors and psychotherapists who have been forced to work online due to the Covid-19 pandemic have noticed a significant increase in people (most commonly men, but not always) worried about their levels of time viewing pornography online. The lockdown and individuals being furloughed and unable to work has led to them being sat in front of their computers for long periods of time feeling restless and bored. They share that they have overspent on online shopping or online gambling and are continuously playing games into the early hours of the morning, like Game of Thrones or WarCraft. Hours on end spent compulsively playing games via the Net means that spontaneous sexual arousal will occur whilst they are on-line, so pornography to feed the arousal of the moment is only a click away. And so is the addiction.
Covid-19 Lockdown, Relationships and Internet Pornography
Many counsellors and psychotherapists who have been forced to work online due to the Covid-19 pandemic have noticed a significant increase in people (most commonly men, but not always) worried about their levels of time viewing pornography online. The lockdown and individuals being furloughed and unable to work has led to them sat in front of their computers for long periods of time feeling restless and bored. They share that they have overspent on online shopping or online gambling, become tired of continuously playing games into the early hours of the morning, but there is always plenty of pornography online to while the way the hours.
Some clients are finding that their masturbatory practice has increased substantially, and while there is nothing wrong with masturbation per se, when clients are presenting with masturbation 10+ times daily, then we are getting into obsessive behaviour as means of trying to self-sooth internal distress.